She runs with Wolves
by Salem1991
Summary: Barney Ross and his team took a job and instead of simply taking out a target, they find a girl who has been hostage for over a month. So many questions buzzed through Barney's head when he found her beaten and scared. Who is she? And more importantly, why is she so important to the man they're after?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 - Mia

Of all the ways for this job to go, it had to happen like this. Barney Ross's face was pressed against the cold concrete wall and his hands were bond together. Like an awkward weight, he lifted his head from the wall to sit in an upright position. It didn't take long for his head to start pounding at a slow and agonizing drumming tempo. To take a grasp of reality was more difficult than he originally thought to be. The smell of mildew and dirty water filled his nostrils. Together, the two smelled like old, stale cigarettes. The room he was in was dark and barely lit with a single light bulb hanging from the decaying ceiling. The sounds of dripping water, and scurrying rats made his head buzz. The light bulb above grew into doubles. His black shirt was faintly damp with sweat while his military tactical vest was unzipped. In search of his gun, Barney's eyes trailed down to his waist. His favorite single action army was missing from its holster.

He shook his head before taking in his surroundings.

It was a sure surprise when Barney found a girl in the same room with him. Only about six feet away, laid a girl with fair amber hair. Her back was facing him, which made Barney unable to see her face. Blood stained her hair, and just like him, her hands were bound together. Barney wondered how long she had been down here and even if she was still alive. He couldn't tell if she was breathing or not.

Right across the room from Barney, a metal door suddenly swung open with a long groan before hitting the concrete wall. Barney saw the girl's finger twitch as a man walked into the room. He gritted his teeth when he saw it was a man working for Pressmen, the man who Barney and his team were after. This sleaze ball's name was Quinn. His body type was most definitely body builder as he stood at 6'2". He had an army buzz and a little bit of scruff as facial hair.

Quinn didn't say a word as he headed straight to the girl. "Good to see you again," Barney grumbled, trying to direct Quinn's attention from her. Like before, Quinn didn't speak. He reached the girl just as she was starting to stir. Barney pulled at the rope that held his hands, however it kept him at bay. She rolled on her back and then over to her other side. She was now facing him. Her skinny jeans were torn at the knees and the white wife beater was stained with dirt and her own blood. Her nose was clearly broken and bruised while the skin just underneath her eyebrow was split – causing blood to dribble and dry down the side of her face.

Quinn pulled out a hunting knife and cut the rope that tied her hands together. Letting her arm's drop heavily on the ground, Quinn noticed her hazel eyes began to sluggishly open. Just as her eyes fell upon Barney, Quinn kicked her hard in the face. Her head snapped back just before she held face in her hands. She letting out an agonizing sob and blood oozed through her fingers as she continued to hold her face. "Morning, sweetheart," Quinn chuckled and snatched her up by grabbing a chuck of her hair. Her soiled, light pink converse kicked at the dirt before she stood on her feet. A hunting knife was pressed against the girl's swollen check and she froze.

"Quinn, don't do it," Barney warned and the both of them looked at him.

Quinn was smiling while the girl's eyes were stained with fear.

"Barney, Barney…tsk. Tsk," he began and pulled the girl closer to him. "Didn't you ever think you might fail a job at some point?" The man stood his head.

Barney shrugged, trying to hide his worry for the girl. "Eh, maybe." Barney's eyes stayed fixed on Quinn and the knife.

"You might want to say your goodbyes to Mia. Time is just about up for her," he told Barney and hugged himself against Mia.

Suddenly without warning, the concern in Barney's brown eyes disappeared. Quinn noticed this and before he knew it, Christmas had thrown one of this favorite kunai into the back of his head.

Quinn's body jerked stiffly before falling to the ground, releasing the girl. Mia jumped at the sight of the knife that was stuck in the man's head. Christmas jogged to Barney to cut him loose. "Looks like I had to save your ass _again_ ," Christmas joked and Barney shook his head with a smile playing on his lips. "We've got to get out of here. There are 20 blocks of C-4 just below us. It's set to blow in four minutes." Barney turned away from his friend and to the girl who was still standing next to Quinn. Christmas's eyes followed Barney's and they both watched her stare down at the body. The girl looked rough to Christmas. Not only was there already blood from the wound under her eyebrow and her bleeding nose, her cheekbone was badly swollen while the rest of her round face was colored with purple and red due to bruising. The girl had to be her early twenties – probably still in college.

Barney was the one to step forward first and she took a step back with an unsure expression. "It's okay. We're not going to hurt you. You're name was Mia, right?" She didn't say anything but nod. Barney knew questions were useless at the moment with C-4 just underneath their feet. "Okay, we've got to go," he began, walking towards her. Christmas followed behind him. "There are explosives on the floor below us. We have to leave now." Panic spread across her face and quickly nodded again. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, speaking for the first time. Her voice was shaky and quiet. Barney's head was still buzzing with questions he wanted to ask her. Who are you? What did Pressmen want from her? How long have you been here?

"Alright, let's go." Barney said reaching her. The top of her head reached his shoulder and that's when he realized how tiny she really was. She was maybe 5'2" and couldn't have weighed more than 105 lbs. Him and Christmas turned to quickly head towards the door, but Mia stopped they.

"Wait," she said gently and turned to her right. There was a desk with a backpack on it. She quickly snatched it and Barney's gun that lay next to it. She came back to them. "Is this your's?"

Barney smiled and thanked her when she handed the gun to him.

Christmas and Barney led the way out a door and down a hallway. After a minute of running, Barney noticed Mia lagging behind. She was holding her side as small beads of sweat decorated the skin on her face. "Slow down," Barney told Christmas and the two of them slowed down their running.

"We don't have long," Christmas urged and Barney nodded.

Barney ran towards the girl. He knew she was a lot pain by the look on her face and the blood from her nose was still dripping. The last thing he wanted was for her to loss consciousness during their escape. "Come on," he softly said and picked her up in his arms. She wrapped arms around his neck and hid her face in the crook of his neck. The two men were booking it down the last bit of the hallways as time was running out.

Author's note: Hey! Please leave a review letting me know what you think of the first chapter! Thank you!

~Salem


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – The Team

Christmas and Barney were in full sprint when they exited the building. They hit the dirt as soon as they went over a large embankment of soil to escape the blast and debris. The two men tumbled in different directions and Mia went toppling with Barney through the tall grass. Mia's body silently cried out the times their bodies bounced against the ground before coming to a sudden stop. Barney rolled himself over Mia's body and she clung to his vest. Mia's world was spinning. She had no idea who these men were but they saved her life. Barney and his friend, complete strangers, were putting their selves in harms way to save her. There was no reason not to trust them. Barney laid on her, tucking his head next to hers, and covered both of their heads with his arms. The explosion from the C-4 was loud and a small shock wave kicked up dirt and small pieces of rubble fell onto the three of them.

Once it fell quiet, Barney popped his head up and scouted his surroundings. Mia laid on her back with her arms over her chest, breathing heavily. Barney shook his head, sending dirt in the air. He turned to his left and then barked, "Christmas! You good?" A British voice called from the distance, shouting, "Yeah! You good?"

"Yeah!"

"How's the girl?"

Barney turned to her and stuck out his hand for her to grab. "You okay?"

Mia didn't say anything as she reached out to grab the hand. There was this soft ring in her ears as she stumbled to her feet with Barney's aid. Barney held her wrist with one hand and while the other had her bicep. The ring became suddenly louder and setting sun in the distance became brighter. Barney watched the girl struggle to pull herself out of a daze. He knew she was shell-shocked. As he held her up, she blinked rapidly before focusing on Barney. "Mia?"

"I'm okay," she whispered and her eyes trailed up to Christmas as Barney let go of the girl. Christmas reached the two and was also covered with dirt.

"We need to find the others," Barney spoke and Christmas agreed. Barney turned to Mia. "We're going to get you out of here, but I first have to meet back up with my team." Mia nodded, understanding. She didn't bother brushing off any of the dirt as she followed the two men into the surrounding woods. Again, she struggled to keep up with the men, but Barney knew that he couldn't carry her the whole way back. It was going to be at least a three-mile walk before they would reach where their team agreed to meet back up at. They'll just have to lose some time because of Mia's injuries.

It took them an hour and a half before Barney finally saw five familia figures sitting on a fallen tree. Christmas waved at the rest of their team. All them were surprise to see a woman in her mid 20's with her arm around Barney's shoulder – holding most of her weight up. "You guys okay?" Caesar asked, as he and Doc were the first to reach them.

"We're fine, but she's hurt," Barney said wearily and Doc picked her up from his tired comrade. Mia didn't say anything as the man carried her back where they were sitting. He gently placed her in front of the tree and she sat, watching him grab a first aid kit from his backpack. The rest of team was talking to Barney and Christmas or glancing at the newcomer. It made Mia nervous when she couldn't hear what they were talking about.

"What's your name?" the man asked when he returned with medical supplies, making her jump. He paused before he started to wipe away the blood on her face.

"Mia Brooks," she replied and let him tend to her wounds.

"I'm Doc." Doc watched Mia stay quiet besides the occasional grunts of pain as he stitched up her eyebrow. He then pointed out who was who on the team to her. In totally there were seven men on their team. They were in a small clearing in the woods as the heat and humidity seeped into the heavy air. Mia started to feel queasy. "I have to reset your broken nose," he said, setting down the bloody rag. She let out a shaky breath and nodded.

Barney observed Doc reset Mia's broken nose. The cartilage crunched and popped when he applied pressure to both sides of her nose. Tears formed in her eyes and she squeezed her jeans. She looked pale and exhausted. When Doc was done, she cursed underneath her breath. Barney grab a canteen of water and brought it to the girl. She quickly thanked him before taking a couple of gulps of water. "How long where you held captive?" he asked.

Mia took another gulp of water before answering, "I don't know." She handed him the canteen back. "I tried to keep track of the number of sunsets to count the days, but they would blindfold me or keep me in a dark room." Leaning her back against the tree, Mia took a couple of deep breaths. "I don't even remember how I got there," she told them and Barney squatted in front her.

"Does the name Pressmen ring any bells?" Christmas asked over Barney's shoulder and Mia shook her head.

None of this made sense to Barney. What would Pressmen need her for? "Did they ever say anything to you?"

"They kept asking me where my camera was," she replied. "But, I couldn't tell them where it was. I can't even remember the days before I woke up there. I have no idea where it is." Mia shifted uncomfortably. "They kept beating when I couldn't give them the right answers…"

"A camera?" Caesar spoke up and sat on the fallen tree.

Mia nodded and turned to Barney. "I'm a photographer."

"What kind of photographer?"

"I do any kind of photography actually, but my last shoot was in Puerto Rico for a wedding."

Barney's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Puerto Rico?"

And again, she nodded.

Pressmen was like seen in Puerto Rico two weeks ago. A couple of days ago, Barney and his team stumbled on a lead to this location. She's probably been held hostage for at least a week and a half. "Where are we? The last thing I remember is being in Puerto Rico," she told the men and Barney stood to his feet.

"We're in Tate's Hell State Forest in Florida."

Mia looked at the man in shock with her mouth open. "I'm back in the states?"

Barney didn't know what to say to her. He was just as confused as she was. They were nowhere closer to finding Pressmen and now they had another complete mystery to solve.

* * *

Author's Note: I wanted to apologize for me being gone for so long! Not trying to give too much TMI, but my depression has made it very difficult for me to enjoy writing for the last couple years. But I'm BACK! I promise! Thank you for the reviews and being patient with me!

~Salem


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